By Reggie Gatlin-Holt

3 24 2024

The Bears are 5-3 in the second round under Scott Drew

BAYLOR GAME NOTES

https://baylorbears.com/documents/2024/3/23/BU_MBB_Game_Notes_35_CLEM_23-24.pdf

CLEMSON GAME NOTES

https://baylorbears.com/documents/2024/3/23/Clemson_Game_Notes-0324.pdf

Story lines

• No. 3 seed Baylor takes on No. 6 seed Clemson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 5:10 p.m. on TNT.

• BU is 5-3 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament under Scott Drew.

• The Bears are the only team in the country to be a No. 3 seed or higher in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments.

• The No. 9 overall seed this season, BU is the only school in the country to be a top-10 overall seed in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments. No other school has been better than a 14 in that span.

• The Bears joined Gonzaga, Houston and Kansas as one of four teams to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last five tournaments.

• The Bears are coming off a dominating performance in the opening round with a 92-67 win over Colgate.

• In addition to BU’s 92 points being a program-best in the NCAA Tournament, the 25-point win was BU’s third-largest in NCAA Tournament history.

• Baylor’s 16 made three-pointers tied a program NCAA Tournament record.

• Jalen Bridges had a game-high 23 points to lead the Bears, his second-straight game of 20+ points and his fifth of the season.

• The senior’s five made three-pointers ranked as the second-most in an NCAA Tournament game in program history, and the most since King McClure had five against USC on March 19, 2017.

• Ja’Kobe Walter poured in 19 points, his highest scoring output since he had 23 against Houston on 2/24. It was the most points in a Baylor NCAAT debut since Macio Teague had 22 against Hartford (3/19/21).

• BU is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 tournaments.

• Baylor is 1 of 9 teams to appear in nine of the last 10 tournaments, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue, and Virginia.

• The Bears are 23-16 in 15 NCAA Championship appearances and 20-10 under Drew.

• Baylor is 44-27 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 16 seasons.

• BU is 10-7 all-time when playing as a No. 3 seed.

• The Bears are top-10 in the nation in 3-point FG% (39.4), rank fifth in nation in offensive efficiency (123.1) and finished second in the Big 12 in points per game (80.5).

• Baylor finished the season with the No. 1 strength of schedule and faced the best defenses in the nation according to KenPom.

• The Bears are aiming for a seventh 25-win season in the Drew Era, and the fourth in the last five years. In the 103 years prior to Drew’s arrival, the Bears reached the 25-win plateau just once (1945-46).

• Baylor is the only Big 12 team to win 11+ conference games in each of the last five seasons.

• BU is 12-5 in its last 17 games against AP top-10 teams.

• BU is 1 of 4 programs ranked No. 1 nationally in four of the last eight seasons (Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas).

• BU is 128-34 over the last five seasons, the nation’s best winning percentage among Power-6 teams in that span (.790%).

• The Bears are the only team in the nation with six active players averaging double-digit points.

• Baylor has now been ranked in the top-10 for a fifth-straight year, one of just five programs (Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Gonzaga) to accomplish that feat.

• Baylor had five players garner All-Big 12 honors (tied for second-most), headlined by Big 12 Freshman of the Year Ja’Kobe Walter.

• Walter gave BU The preseason and postseason Freshman of the Year for the second-straight season (Keyonte George), joining Oklahoma State as the only Big 12 school to accomplish that in back-to-back seasons.

COURTESY BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS